This coming Sunday, (Oct. 20) is World Mission Sunday, a day where the Pope asks us to take a special

collection to support the Church throughout the world by supporting the Pontifical Mission

Societies. The Pontifical Mission Societies (TPMS) are a worldwide network at the service of the

Pope that supports the missions and the Young Churches with prayer and charity. These include

the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, the Missionary

Childhood Association (MCA) and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.

The four societies have been defined as “pontifical” since 1922, thus indicating their status as

official instruments of the Pope and of the universal Catholic Church. In most countries, the

World Missions Sunday collection is taken up on the third Sunday of October each year in every

Catholic parish around the globe.

These missionary societies themselves each have their own inspiring stories, as they were not

founded by the Pope, but rather were grassroots efforts from ordinary people that later grew into

something that came to be formally recognized, honored, and supported by the Pope by naming it

at “Pontifical Society.”  You can read more about these societies and there histories here,

onefamilyinmission.org/the-societies.

As I mentioned last week, this is the month of the rosary.  Oct. 7 is the Feast of “Our Lady of the Rosary,” also known as “Our Lady of Victory.”  This feast commemorates the victory of the Christian forces at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 against the invading Ottoman Empire (who many feared would wipe out Christianity in Europe if they succeeded).  This victory was attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the Holy Rosary.  Since then, then Church has continued to hold up the rosary as a great spiritual weapon against the forces of evil, not simply in worldly forces, for, as St. Paul says, “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Ephesians 6:12).  Thus in the mission of advancing the Kingdom of God through proclaiming the Gospel and winning hearts and souls for Christ, Mary’s intercession, has been particularly powerful and her rosary has shown to be a powerful spiritual weapon.

To conclude, here is an excerpt of a poem titled “To Our Lady of Victories” from St. Therese of Lisieux, who prayed fervently for missionaries, and called upon Mary’s intercession for them:

O Mother! thou my heart’s desire/ Hast granted now; so hear my cry/ Of gratitude and love like fire/ Thy child uplifts to thee on high.

By love for God and all mankind,/ By bonds of prayer and earnest will,/ Thou deignest now my soul to bind/ To those who Christ’s last wish fulfill.

My prayers shall travel every day, /As fast as mighty river rolls;/My brothers, missioned far away,/ Helped here by me, shall conquer souls;

Peace,

– Fr. Kevin